LESSON SIXTEEN

THE IMPERFECT - VERBS WITH , OR "

11! )
We have already seen above ( pp. 56f.) that those
roots which, in the Perfect, begin with a " fall into ~fwd1
categories, those where the\~is the original fi istconso·na~·t·
(a .co-m~par atJvelyLsmall group of verbs) and those where
the [ij)las,.rep!!cec{'an o,tigin_?H~i The former are correctly
- designated~ D_verbs, while the l<'.ltter are more correctly
- described as'lf~:§1 even though in the Perfect they, too,
begin with ., .
~a.,, ce -·~ ,: i

- - { l_i ~:,: ~\ ( p. 187)

•....-
These have lm_pe!f~-~~ -P ' and the form is
- to suck - Imperf. P~"~
Here the i-vowel of the 3rd m.s. preformative and t1l_~ .,
which is the first root letter have coalesced !E!2..t~f(}~_
~g,
; 12.vowel.
• . t . ·--- .,

{i1I\~';'JJl (P.
These fall into·.~ ·c~~tegqr~es;
. •'-~
~(i)
,.;,,. • ,; The majority follow
._._..,_ •.. ,..,;~ the ,.,,, :o:pattern in the Imper-
:r.;•.<--!,, .J 'll,{•C•_,... , ~•·., ,, • .l""

f ect -
Active rv,., - to inherit
-T
- rv,.,.,
Stative ~,., - to be afraid -
uT
~,.,.,T •

In this last, the fact that this root is also ~,, ';, (see
above p. 96) occa~oned the long a -vowel i~Jh_e,.5_ecQnd
syllable. In the active ~erbs the,m1_p~J ative is ~onosyllabk)
l!l' m.s.A •h .
·~·-··

while the :Infinitive Construct resembles second declen-

sion nouns
, n~J (with suffs. etc. )
Because of the nature of the vowels here, such a form

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 THE IMPERFECT - VERBS WITH OR .,

or pattern is often described as being 'segolate' (see on

sec~~~ declension nouns above pp. 90ff. ).
-:;:,J}!li\
smaller group of common verbs follows a quite
distinct pattern:
- 31' '

to sit, dwell - '~~ perf.

:iw~ -
Again the l~ per.
... ..._...._.is monosyllabic
.~ .. .. . ,, -'•· . ; '

[:f\
and the Infinitive Construct 'segolate'
~r,;i~\. (with suffs. "l:l~~
. etc.)
These 'segolate' Infinitives are, like Second Declension
nouns (above, {:>P; 90ff. ), accented on their first syllable.
J The prepositionl , 1 whe~ prefixe~LtQJh~se Infinitives to
expr~ss pu~pos.~, f2.ll..s-!!l..!h~-.-- p~~zto!1ic1pqsition .and . is
~ocahsed with a.:
~-.:y...r• t ·•·'."-' . -· ~•.• .. •>4'" · : - · .

See above, p. 52.

There are .sf0 very common verbs which follow this
pattern, ancl'l~ey are worth nC>ting: .
,11~ - to go down 1'}~ 1'} njl
:i~., . - to sit,dwell
- T
:i~~ :i~ n:i~ y y

~ - - to bear (children) 1?~ 1? n1'?

! 1~. - to know ~1 n~1 ("J:l~1)
( Notice here how the final 'guttural' attracts a- vowels in place of e and e)

- ·,
- to go out
( Here the has, as usual, become silent)
( "D~~)

':T';,iT
·1- .1.¥
- to walk
( Notice that the Perfeet in this last instance falls outside the usual pattern.
1?0 is a very common verb and should be carefully noted.)
In a ~ by itself among the ~"O verbs is th!:=~tative
verb ~ to be able, where the hn,pe~fe_ct i_si(~~":\
In those verbs where in the Imperfect there are two
l-vowels ( e.g. 1j~), in the·v.c~ Imperfect ( where the accent
falls on · the penultimate syllable [ see above p. 86]) the

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 INTRODUCTORY HEBREW CRAMM.AR
,........_.
J v.,2~el_.. of the final syllab_le is reduc_ech to e: So, :·11~)\
/ ttoo, :i~~) etc. This phenomenon does not, however, occur
with

,_
'
v,:,~ \and ""~ i(p. 188)
@
l ----·· ·...· ....
As we have seen already ( p. 57 ), verbs which are ,,,,
or "" have become monosyllabic in the Perfect:
tli? - to arise tl~ - to put, place
and that it is their Infinitive Construct (o~p and 0"~
respectively) that is used as the 'citation form', since in
that particular part of the verb their true nature is
evident. The medial., .and \ .are_. also .in, eyidence -in . the
Ime~i:f~~J; ........ - . •· . - . . . .- . --·-·
..........
3rd m.s. Imperf. tl~P".
m.s. Imper. o~p
Inf. Cstr. o~p
Pt. Oi?
Notice that, as in the 'regular' verb, the forms of the m.s.
Imperative and of the Inf. Cstr. are identical and that in
this class of verb the Pt. is identical in form with the
3rd m.s. Perf.
! In this class of verbs, too, the <i;s~!J (
see above
!pp. 75f.) is_djffe:,renf. in form from the ordinary Imperfect.
/ {The latter is mp~/0"~~, but ~he._l.~ ssive is
· } f§sfi ·ro~J l
In what we call 'V.C. Imperfect', the , is actually prefixed
to the jussive (see above p. 85 ), ~ndj n !h~_Y:C..~J:1nperj .
the accent falls on the _penultimate syllable, with the
su'bsequent shortening' that 'ffrial of vowel .(
o, ) O; e ) e;
see also above p. 86 and above on ,,, !:l verbs):
Jussive op~ - V.C. Imperf. "'"°'tli?!), ( yayyaqom)
Ot"
" T
_b~!) k
~ --- -. ,!
ayyasem )

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 THE IMPERFECT - VERBS WITH i OR .,

~t~:: .:\ (p. 190)

.~ ;~•

We have already noted how verbs which have " as

the third leHer of their root appear fn the 3rd m.s. of the
Perfect to be n" ';, ( n(i - to uncover, reveal), and this ts
the name by which this class of verbs is commonly known
( see above p. 58 ). But the n is really a vowel- letter and
appears only when the third root letter is not fo1lowed
by any suffix or afformative and has become vocalic
(ay > a), and these verbs are, strictly speaking, .,,,,, as
may be seen, e.g., from a form such as 1st s. Perf. ). ,r,.,,~ (
The following are the characteristic for~; :T
3rd m.s. Imperf. ~tl
m.s. Imper.
/ Inf. Cstr. ~; . ,
.! t", · n · ~ :{em. ~?.1,)
I~ ~~:tJm,p~r) an~J~ the 2nd f.s. and 3rd ·and 2nd m.pl.' <'-
orthe Imperf., the n <)isappe~rs before the vocalic afform-t,
~t._,- -t , _ .,. . •w l f· ••

atives: ·
~';,~ (m.pl. Imper.)
.,,·)M.. (2nd f .s. Imperf.)
~;
.- . ; .
(3rd m.pl. Imperf.))

T.he Ju~~Y~.,of this class of verbs tends to appear in

a shortened ( or 'apocopated') form, where the n and its
vowel drop away and a helping vowel is inserted between
the first and second letters of the root:
·:s)·~t ( < *';,)"I < n';,~ ~)
y • - : • y •

It is this 'apocopated' form that is almost invariably

found in the V ~£:. .
Im..eerf_~-~t ..?f,;.~, ,rr:.'?.: verbs:

again with the accent on the penultimate syllable.

tfilf\
f very common verb which. belongs to this class is l
r. ~~fil to be. . . "
Imperf. - Imper. n~cr - Inf. Cstr. hyi_t~ ;"~:. nt~(}
........ ~....... . .-~ ..., . • , ..;

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 INTRODUCTORY HEBREW GRAMMAR

The 'apocopated' ~4ssive ~ ~J-.~i1 With a simple , this

becomes "i:T"1 ( < .. "i:T;1 < +"i:T;) ) while the V.C. Imperfect
is ;,;~~ 1~. Notice. l~ t thel ':1-t:nexpe~t~d1y ~~s . n_~~ aiesh~
There-are a ~ her, of _cpns_<?_n ~rt~ _i})- ;Hebrt;~ ( , ' 'I' , ' t.)'
I- ~-R) which, ?.fien.
f~ w-ed -~~- v_o~~~~-~h:~~, ~-v~~!..?!te!J
(, ~9mit; dagesh ev~n ~nen C>ne w~~~d _-~~pect, it.) cf. also the
form ···;,pb ·:. the noun· ';,~~-·with pronominal suffix of the
I

3rd m. sg. - in Exercise 15 No. 3; above, p. 101 ).

.. · t . • ';.' \
Besides meaning simply '(and) he/it was'~}"i:l;1}is yery ._,,,_
frequently used in narrative style in? kind of inti:oductoi;:
wa'y:-'f(Is' whaf'the· A V (I<.JV) translated ...ci~ '~nd it cam~
to p~ss'. In these circumstances it is ...f9ll9~2,....h.Y~a
s,~_b~;.~!_Dat~-.}~_?<pte_~s!9p"ot time_,..,. ~'.g .._:) ( ~r:.. :i_ ) and the
. Infinitive\
•~~n,~,....,.., , c ~n~J~ucJ
--&;.,,,· • .. ( see above pp. 79 f. ) and then by
anotner V.C. Imperfect representing the main clause of
the sentence. In this kind of situation "ii"i . : - is often best
left untranslated. For example:
1~b ~"ii iiD"-"::l ii~~ii-n~ O"i~~ii
: • TT · • . T•T Y •:•-
~~jll,
: •-
iib"i~b Oi::l~ ~i::l::l "ii"i
T:- : • Tl- ; • :-

( Gen 12:14)
This could be translated literally: 'And it was ( came to
pass), when Abram was entering Egypt and the Egyptians
saw ( the ii", verb ii~i - to see) the· woman that she was T T

very beautiful'. In English that is less 'Biblical' it might

read more simply: 'When Abram was about to enter Egypt,
the Egyptians saw ( or noticed ) that the woman was very
beautiful'. ·
,,- ~
Note on{Accents '')
- - --. , . . , . ; ~- - ............. t~_::.V"'.,,.

. ,_ .Y:f.e referred above on p. 26 to the two signslitij.~~ and

·: silluq, and we must now look at these more closely. Most
verses of the .Hebrew Bible fall into two main parts, and
there is a feeling of a pause occurring at the end of the
first · part, rather like that experienced at a comma in an
English sentence, and again at the end of the second,
though more final on this occasion as at the full stop at
the end of an English sentence. In the Hebrew verse, the

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 THE IMPERFECT - VERBS WITH i OR .,

end of the first part is marked by the sign ~ ( atnah)

placed to the left of the vowel of the accentecf'syllable
of the last word in the first part of the verse ( in the cases

i~.;!c:~:,,~;;P.'.l~t~'.;:!eb:n:~~:~eb;; ;cs~;: \
wn icti is s1nular ly placed in the final word in t he verse.

indicated (with qual!fication_s) above~

If the vowel in question is 'short' in terms of the 'long'
/'short' distinction.
'11:
p.15, then t~e. :7f:1a,!:__~!~-!~.~,. . ~.f~!T:J:q ,,\Yf!I o~_~gthe~ The f
word in question is then said to be 'in pause', and the
form which it takes, with such possible vowel modification,
is said to be its ~µ sal,JQ[_~'. In Gen 1:1
: y~iJ n~ 1 o~~~iJ n~ O"i:,r',~ n.,~~1f
atnah occurs beside the "7 -vowel of O"iJ'~ and silluq
beside the T -vowel of Y1~0. In neither case is the pausal
form of these words any different from its usual form.
In the second sentence of No. 5 in the following translation
exercise, il'?~? is the _pausai form of il'?~?-

EXERCISE SIXTEEN
Vocabulary:
Verb:
nj?, _ to take (Imperf. njp~; Imper. ni? ).
... See below p. 116
·~-H.V _ To ~~-+""'""" - ~(• r••ftf
Nouns:
il) i., / _ dove IJi )~ - resting place
... · (< verb ni) - to rest)
r,::l I _ palm (of hand), sole (of foot}·
-nJ" - Noa h n::ir-i f ( Noah s) ark;
. . .. ,. .
- Hb f the 'ark ( of the covenant) is pi~.
the e rew or
pin1 - far, distant

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 INTRODUCTORY HEBREW GRAMMAR

Other:
o~ - with how?
ii~::l -
T -

(lit. 'by-means-of what?')

- 'to you' and 'to him'; see below, p. 110 para. 7
- one
( for the numerals see Lesson 25, below, pp.151 ff.)

Translate:
1'?~ 91: ~?1 i1~;1¥~ ,1~1 .1
: N"i1 iM~N .,~
-r,~ ~,.,~ "'.:;) 91~ i1~~ ,.,D?~ iTii1"? i~N!,1
: nNtiJ Yl~iJ
-';,~ r:rj-';,~ ::i~t,1 i1:?~1 ~:;,<
Oi:J~ n~i~iJ i1~¥~ ~?) @)
: i1 ::i r-, i1
-';,~ 1?1 tl=;liJ~ ";J~:;i-n~ N~-ni? n,n., i? ,~~!,1 ©
iJ=;li Nin ,i?:i~ i~71< 1'?~1 i1[?in7 Yl~
i::i~ ,.,l~~-';,~ 1~N:2J: i1)i1" ' i?
iNj~, :
T- IY --:
n::ii~Ji iJ~1,?
T u:-:
T:
i1:J?J "J:Ji "JNi i1li1
T:•• •: w:- •-:-

r:r;if~Q-';,~ iJ~-n~ iJ=;li

Nli?~1 : PD¥:-n~ i1t;r? ;,:-n~ n1?~~1
-';,~ 19N!,1 . n,n., 1~<~ ,.,'?~
N"1; "'.:;) "I:1~1: no~ "::;> ,'?~iJ-';,~ 11:-n~ n?~l:1
: i1MN
IT - • •,-:

.. Nli?~1
. : 1iN "i1"i 1iN "i1"
I .:
• .: - A ·.-:
.10N!,i
... - .5
1i?j-"iJ;1 ::i 1~-"8;1 i1'?;:? Nli? 1~n?1 1iN'?
: inN IT Y

Sentence No. 4 is loosely based on Gen. 22: 2 -12

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